High school students learn about pathways from professionals at career fair

Milpitas Police Chief Jared Hernandez, along with Officer Shuyo Chang, caught the attention of students at the March 31 career fair at Calaveras Hills High School.

Chief Hernandez, a Milpitas High School alumnus who rose in the MPD ranks, detailed the qualifications needed to become a police officer as well as the variety of job opportunities available within the department for both sworn and unsworn personnel.

The two police officers were two of about 20 individuals representing an array of organizations, businesses, military branches, governing bodies and more to host students from Calaveras Hills HS, Milpitas Middle College HS, and Milpitas Adult Education.

“The goal of the career fair was to expose students to different career choices and have them hear about what the journey was to get into that career,” explained Calaveras Hills HS counselor Jonathan Payne, who organized the event in collaboration with MUSD Middle College High School and Milpitas Adult Education. “The presenters talked about not just what they are doing now but how they got there.”

Students made their way to different classrooms throughout the day for sessions where speakers included Milpitas Mayor Carmen Montano; MUSD Board of Education President Chris Norwood; Blach Construction Senior Project Manager Ryan Holman; Tradeswomen Inc. Project Manager Jessica Fontenot; Amazon Staffing Administrator Jay Giddens; Uber’s Alicia Mendoza; social worker Sabrena Stice; jeweler Kathryn Deierlein; and auto mechanic Dennis Muaka.

“I feel like this is a good opportunity as far as knowing what our futures could look like,” said Eli Venegas, a junior student at CHHS who wants to join the Army and also become a welder. “Some people don’t know what they are going to do after they graduate.”

The career fair aligned with MUSD Strategic Goal #3: Develop educational pathways that allow students to apply their passion in learning for their future careers.

Recent CHHS graduate Juan Aguilar (December 2022), who is learning about the fire science pathway at Silicon Valley Career Technical Education, attended the career fair to hear about other professions such as with Blach Construction.

“It was interesting what he was talking about, how it is different from working in the field to the shop work,” Aguilar shared. “I just wanted to get more knowledge about it.”

Payne added: “There’s a lot of students that we have this year who are interested in construction. They just need to know the next steps to pursue a career in construction," which include design, architecture, engineering, and management. 

A UC Berkeley graduate student shared how to get into the education field, and another representative told students about the pathway to becoming a stylist or manicurist by enrolling in cosmetology certification programs.